See Also: Turn(medicine)
out-turn(dictionary)
re-turn(dictionary)
Turn(finance)
turn(1)(dictionary)
turn(2)(dictionary)
turn-down(dictionary)
turn-off(dictionary)
turn-up(dictionary)
U-turn(dictionary)

turn(1) (iou)



turn noun. ME.
[Partly from Anglo-Norman t(o)urn = Old French torn (mod. tour) from Latin tornus from Greek tornos lathe; partly from the verb. Cf. TOUR noun.]
I. Rotation, and connected senses.
The action of turning about an axis; rotation. Now rare. ME.
An act of turning about an axis; a (total or partial) rotation or revolution. L15.
B. H. Malkin Florence and her dowry..were lost..by a turn of the dice. J. Ruskin In a few turns of the hands of the..clock.
An object or apparatus (having a part) which turns or spins round; spec. (a) a watchmaker's lathe; (b) (obsolete exc. dial.) a spinning-wheel; (c) a revolving stand in a hatch. L15.
The gid. Also, an animal affected with this. Now rare or obsolete. E16.
The condition or manner of being twisted or convoluted; a single coil, twist, or whorl. M17.
Professional Photographer The..rings on the..roller were made by applying a number of turns of masking tape.
An act of passing a rope etc. once round an object. M18.
Music. A melodic ornament consisting of a group of three, four, or five notes, comprising the principal note and the note one degree above and/or below it. E19.
II. Change of direction or course, and connected senses.
An act or (rare) the action of turning aside from one's course; a deviation. ME.
W. Greener The woodcock..its turn to right and left being most erratic.
An act of turning or facing another way; a change of direction. LME.
G. J. Whyte-Melville The many turns and windings of his wearisome..chase.
b. Cricket. The (intentional) deviation of a ball on pitching. E20.
Times On a pitch giving slow turn there was no chance of Gloucestershire achieving this target.
A place at which a road, river, etc., changes direction; a bend; a turning. LME.
P. D. James Every turn..of the overgrown garden path..was so familiar. M. Forster The landing was gloomy on this turn of the stairs.
b. The halfway point in a round of golf. L19.
a. A journey. LME-M18.
b. = TOURN. obsolete exc. Hist. M17.
A short stroll or ride, esp. one following a circular route. L16.
E. Wharton She took a restless turn about the room. G. R. Turner He took a turn round the lawns.
The action or an act of changing, (an) alteration. Chiefly spec., a change in circumstances or in the course of events, esp. for better or worse. L16.
R. Macaulay She felt aggrieved at the extraordinary turn things had taken. L. P. Hartley Her father's mental illness took a turn for the worse. J. Cartwright Life was taking a turn for the better. W. M. Clarke The sudden turn in the autumn weather.
b. The transition period from one specified period of time to the next. Foll. by of. Chiefly in turn of the century. M19.
R. Hoggart Novels from..the turn of the century. B. Duffy The liberal tide..sweeping Vienna at the turn of century.
An act of turning so as to face or go in the opposite direction; spec. a change of the tide from ebb to flow or from flow to ebb. M17.
H. Williamson The tide..began to go out strongly at the turn. Swimming Times The men surfaced after the first turn.
b. Cards. The inversion of two cards in faro. M19.
Printing. Type turned wrong side up as a temporary substitute for a missing letter. obsolete exc. Hist. L19.
III. An action; a feeling.
A movement by a wrestler designed to achieve a fall. Long obsolete exc. dial. ME.
A trick, a wile, a stratagem. obsolete exc. Scot. dial. ME.
An act, a deed. Long only spec., an act that does good or harm to another, a (good, ill, etc.) service. ME.
W. Schirra One turn I did for the..team was to help perfect the spacesuit. B. Pym She had done Claudia a good turn in helping her to avoid somebody.
A spell of work; a task. Orig. Scot. Long rare exc. in do a hand's turn s.v. HAND noun. LME.
A spell or bout of activity. Now passing into sense 24. LME.
C. H. Spurgeon I like to see you run and I am glad to take a turn at it.
An event, an occurrence. (Not always distinguishable from sense 13.) L16-E18.
An attack of illness; esp. a momentary feeling of illness or nervous shock. M18.
R. H. Morrieson Having the sergeant with us..must have given Mr Lynch a nasty turn. New Yorker When I looked again, there was no dog anywhere. Gave me quite a turn. S. Townsend Mrs Harriman had a funny turn. N. Lowndes He's had a bad turn and they've put him to bed.
IV. Occasion, time.
The time at which something happens. Only in ME.
An opportunity or obligation to do something or to have something done, that comes successively to each of several persons or things. LME.
C. Chaplin The basis of contention was..whose turn it was to do the housework. G. Greene He had to wait his turn at the counter.
b. A short performance on stage, esp. each of a number given by different performers in succession. E18.
F. Forsyth The pair of them, standing on the threshold.., looked like a comic turn.
c. A period of work done by a group of people in succession, a shift. L18.
Daily Telegraph A man doing a turn of 87 miles..would get the..drivers' basic rate.
Requirement, need; purpose. arch. exc. in serve one's turn, serve the turn s.v. SERVE verb1. L16.
V. Abstract senses.
Character, style; esp. style of language; a variation or particular manner of linguistic expression, esp. for effect. Freq. in turn of phrase. E17.
E. Wharton The adroit feminine hand which should give the right turn to her correspondence. Observer He can take offence at the turn of a phrase. D. Hogan Phineas became famous for his literary turn of phrase.
b. Form, mould, or cast of an object. E-M18.
Disposition; aptitude (usu. foll. by for or with specifying adjective). Formerly also, a characteristic. M17.
R. Travers His religious turn of mind..made him..too serious for the other students. D. Cecil Humorous and with a turn for repartee.
Direction, drift, trend. E18.
J. Coulter I discovered what gave my thoughts a new turn.
A particular construction or interpretation put upon an action, statement, etc. E18.
J. Austen You are giving it a turn which that gentleman did by no means intend.
VI. Technical senses.
a. A quantity of loose fish for sale. L17.
b. A quantity or load of a commodity, esp. wood, being as much as can be carried by a person at one time. Chiefly N. Amer. L18.
Commerce. The difference between the buying and selling price of a stock; the profit made by this. M19.
Phrases: at every turn at every change of circumstance, at each new stage; continually. by turns, (rare) by turn one after another in regular succession; alternately. call the turn guess the order of the last three cards in the pack. do a hand's turn: see HAND noun. do an ill turn to: see ILL adjective & adverb. done to a turn cooked to exactly the right degree (orig. of a roast on a spit). give a hare a turn Hunting (of a dog) make a hare veer off sharply in a different or the opposite direction. in one's turn when one's turn or opportunity comes. in turn(s) in due order of succession; successively, alternately. jump turn: see JUMP verb. left turn: see LEFT adjective. LODGING turn. on the turn (a) changing; (b) (of food, esp. milk) going off; (c) at the turning point. out of turn, out of one's turn at a time when it is not one's turn; speak out of turn, talk out of turn, say more than one ought to say, speak inadvisedly or tactlessly. parallel turn: see PARALLEL adjective. right turn: see RIGHT adjective. round turn: see ROUND adjective. serve one's turn, serve the turn: see SERVE verb1. take it in turns = take turns below. take turns act or work alternately or in succession. THREE-point turn. turn and turn about alternately. turn of phrase: see sense 26 above. turn of speed ability to go fast when necessary. turn of the century: see sense 13b above. twists and turns: see TWIST noun1. U-turn: see U, U 2. walk a turn: see WALK verb1.
Comb.: turns ratio Electricity the ratio of the number of turns on the primary coil of a transformer to the number on the secondary, or vice versa.